Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1887-12-30
Warwick Brookes, Childhood.


In the Christmas number of Wide
Awake, L. Letherbrow gives a very in
teresting sketch of the childhood OF thi.
famous Engl sh al list He says
Warwick BrookeS was not bred q
scholar he was never. as pupil, inside
Salford's celebrated grammar school,
The school TO which he was sent wa,
evidently inferior, since he was taught
90 write, not with pen, ink and paper,
but with his fingers in a box of smOothed
sand IL was part of the duty of the
little scholar to carry black lead pen
ell to the master in order that the attend
ance book might be marked. This ope-
ration the child viewed with intense in
terest it was performed by the aid of
an instrument with which he then be-
same acqua ntel for the first time, but
which in future years, in his hand was
10 picture those beautiful babies that
Dante Gabriel Rossetti pronoun ed
"triumphs, every one of them.
AT this school the siX-year-old War
wick-there ia a tradition that he was
aecended from a daughter of the great
Warwick, the king-maker -staid on
three years BY the time he was nae
years old the general distress and pc er,
ty had further Involved his parent ana
he was taken from school TO hep earn
the daily bread, for his father slared IN
the general dissipation into vhlch dls-
couragemeut and lack Of 'ork often
plunge the poor The lite lad went
into print-v orks TO act IS "tear-boy
to his Uncle Thomas who was block
printer on caicocs. rs duty was TO
dip a brush in color api to keep supplied
the color-cloth on which the printer
daubed his block before he applied it to
The fabric.
His brave mother 1--WE should never
have known of her but from the lips OF
her children, a orkshire woman and
. school master daughter, had hard
usarl- 30 Keep " ant from the door but
her Yorkshire thrift brought them
Through, on how small means will
never be told, and with " holesome oat-
Imea porridge, and buttcrm Tx and the
home lie loaf she kept the table 60
lng.
Her children were all gifted. If
nothing else she taught Them self
respect and contentment
"Once, in a quiet hour. the artist
spoke to me" said friend, "of the
darkest shadow that rested on their
home; how on Saturday nights he
could not sleep in his little bed, but lay
awake full of fear far on towards mid
night Hard, indeed, was the portion
IOf the patient wife but her griefs made
Iher son register VOW that no woman
|Or child should ever suffer for his sins.
lAnd TO the last he treated his loved ones
with more than womanly gcntleness. "
You bright American children, with
your magazines, scientific toys, and
countless books, cannot realize the lot
|of this liNIe "tear-boyn in the small
cottage in a&oky English town. His
books were oN the Bible ard Robinson
Orusoe picturf\e had none, nor any
'art-possessions cx\pt few silhouettes
.of p.gs and horses. Much n neighbor's
lad used TO cut ont iH\lper. and fling
M at Che little window Minis bedroom.
They were clever in their\y and gave
him great delight.
Once be told me that befoAhe pos
seSSed pencil he used to 60 aNt the
streets noticing the lines of buiNgs
art-wheels. burrows, and any conNkn
OBJECT, thinking how they ought 10Y
put on paper. and that this habit neveN
lett him, and later he applied it TO the
human figure
1t was a golden day for him the firstl
time he saw IN book-shop window m
the old market stead Of Manchester b
engraving from Sir Joshua Reynol
lie gloated on it, he worshiped It. he
dreamed of 10. II was more to him th An
twenty South Kensington hand boo 70,
ana selected examples from the ord ~
masters. Indeed, he used to shake %
head mournfully over modern drawin@ G
systems. Look at this, he said, hold
ing up copy of outline in the flat. Of
vase. This is what they give them Il
90. The lad has been weeks over n
ana me master has gone over every lin
100 it would task my powers TO do
-hlng like this, and it j. no mortal us
when done"
Nobody rejoiced more than he di
over the development Of painting, th
national school system, ami all the ne
aids FOR youth. But before his death he
used 10 wonder how il was that with
such numerous bats and indictments
ana medals and honors lads did not do
better above all that they did not rcallvv
ARE for their studies.
Why IumbIers We're 80 Called.
In the December number OF Wide
Awake, Rose T.. Kingsley writes
How many times . day do we use q
word without stopping TO think what ID
neans9 Every day at luncheon and aid
Inner we DIR nix out Of a tumbler. Butv
], for one, never thought why the large
ylass that holds our milk or water was
20 called until. once upon time, | hap
,ened to have luncheon at All Souls 4
College, Oxford.
All Souls 10 curious college Ithas
10 students or undergraduates" as we